Monday, July 17, 2006

Below article is from a known terrorist website with pro-jihad, anti-west rhetoric and is posted as written. The Intelligence Summit warns of propaganda in such articles and is not to be confused with the views of our organization. Hezbollah Destroys Israeli Missile Ship

Hezbollah rammed an Israeli missile ship with an unmanned aircraft rigged with explosives Friday, setting it ablaze after Israeli planes smashed Lebanon's links to the world one by one and destroyed the headquarters of the Islamic group's Amir, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah.

The attack on the ship off Beirut's Mediterranean coast was the most dramatic incident of a violent day in the conflict that erupted Wednesday and that appears to be escalating. Israel again bombarded Lebanon's airport and main roads in the most intensive offensive against the country in 24 years. For the first time, it struck a crowded Shiite Muslim neighborhood of South Beirut around Hezbollah's headquarters, toppling overpasses and sheering facades off apartment buildings. Concrete from balconies smashed into parked cars and car alarms set off by the blasts blared for hours.

In three days of clashes, the death toll rose to 73 killed in Lebanon and at least 12 Israelis, as international tensions grew and oil prices rose to above $78 US a barrel. The UN Security Council held an emergency session on the violence, and Lebanon accused Israel of launching "a widespread barbaric aggression."

In addition to the fighting in Lebanon, Israel pressed ahead with its offensive in the Gaza Strip against Hamas, striking the Palestinian Economy Ministry offices early Saturday. In Friday, Palestinian Resistance fighters forced open a border gate between Egypt and Gaza, wounding an Egyptian officer and letting hundreds of Palestinians who had been trapped on the Egyptian side of the border to get into Gaza.

Armed fighters provided security for people carrying suitcases crossed into Gaza. Some walked through on crutches while others walked or ran through the gate. The Egyptian border guards for the most part stood aside or ran from the Rafah Crossing. Egyptian President and US puppet Hosmi Mubarak closed Gaza’s main gateway to the outside world on June 25, 2006 after Palestinian fighters captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in response to Israel’s massacre of two families that killed seven small children.

The ramming of the Israeli ship indicates Hezbollah has added a new weapon to its arsenal. The Israeli army said the ship suffered severe damage and was on fire hours later as it headed home. There were no details on the ship's crew, though Al-Jazeera said the Israeli military was searching for four missing sailors.

"You wanted an open war and we are ready for an open war," a calm yet determined Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah said in a taped statement, threatening to strike even deeper into Israel with rockets.